A milking machine comprises a vacuum source, a milk transport system and a series of lines and/or tubes connecting to the equipment attached to the teats of an animal to be milked.
In order to extract milk from an individual teat, a two chambered teatcup is attached by vacuum to the teat. In turn, a plurality of teatcups (usually two or four depending on the number of teats of the species being milked) is attached to a manifold (also known as a clawpiece), to facilitate ease of handling. The combination of multiple teatcups, connecting tubes and manifold is known as a milking cluster.
At the end of the milk flow period, the cluster is withdrawn from the teats of the animal being milked by a rope attached to an actuator device.
When an operator attaches the teatcups of a milking cluster to a milking animal, it is usual practice that the tube, connecting each teatcup to the clawpiece or manifold, should be folded over so as to close the lumen of the tube in order to limit the passage of air from atmosphere into the teatcup in order to limit or avoid vacuum loss and adverse effects on vacuum stability. As each individual cup is offered up to the teat in order to be sucked into position on the teat by means of the vacuum in the cup, the operator unbends the tube.
In large parlours with a high throughput of animals, one factor limiting to performance is the ease and speed with which an operator can take hold of the milking cluster and present the cluster to the teats of an animal in a manner that ensures that vacuum loss is minimised so that each teat when presented to the teatcup is sucked into position on the teat. In use, the teatcups of known devices can be in a variety of different orientations which increases the time it takes for an operator to gather the teatcups together to offer up the cups to an animal's teats and further, the milking tube may not be folded over to minimise vacuum loss and so the operator may be required to hold the cup over a teat for a longer period until sufficient vacuum has been restored for the teatcup to remain in situ and engage with a teat.
Advantageously, the embodiments of present invention overcome or alleviate one or more of the problems associated with the prior art.